Mammi Chedathy's magic: The Kottayam snacks that Malayali NRIs are crazy about ​

At a 73-year-old snack shop in Puthanangadi near Kottayam, churuttu, kuzhalappam, achappam and other traditional palahaaram are packed every day for customers travelling across Kerala and abroad.

What makes Mammi Chedathy’s Food Products even more interesting is the women who have kept the business going across generations.

This is Served Since, Onmanorama Food & Travel’s series exploring Kerala’s old food spots and the stories behind them.

It all began more than seven decades ago with Mariyam Antony, popularly known as Mammi Chedathy. A homemaker, she began making snacks as a way to earn an income of her own. What started with preparing snacks for special occasions and neighbours soon turned into regular orders as word spread about her food.

Kathrina, Mammi Chedathy’s daughter-in-law, joined the family in 1970 and learned the recipes from her.

“I came into this family on February 2, 1970. The business hadn’t grown this big when Mammi Chedathy was alive. Besides two or three employees, I too helped her make the snacks. I learned everything from her,” Kathrina says.

Mammi Chedathy passed away in 1993, but the business continued within the family. Kathrina took over the recipes and production, carrying forward the methods she had learned from her mother-in-law.

“Mother used to make churuttu, achappam, kuzhalappam and mainly mandaka (the flat crepe covering for churuttu). People bought mandaka from her to make churuttu at their homes,” Kathrina recalls.

In those days, much of the preparation was done by hand. Rice was roasted, coconut was grated and rice was powdered by pounding it in an ural. The snacks were cooked on a wood-fired stove.

Over the years, the range of snacks expanded, while the traditional preparations remained. Today, Kathrina’s daughter-in-law Jyothi and her husband, Siby, are also involved in running the business.

The kitchen next to the shop starts working in the morning, with around 20 women involved in making, frying and packing the snacks.

The spread includes churuttu, kuzhalappam, cheeppappam, achappam, vettu cake, madakkusan, avalose podi, neyyappam, vattayappam, aval vilayichathu, mixture and pakkavada. The shop also sells a variety of other food products, including pickles.

Among them, churuttu remains one of the shop’s signature snacks.

What goes into a churuttu?
The preparation begins with thinly rolled all-purpose flour dough. The dough is dusted with rice flour and cooked on a hot tawa. The thin pancakes are then stacked and cut in half.

The filling is made using avalose podi. Rice, coconut and cumin are dry-roasted and coarsely powdered. The mixture is cooked in sugar syrup and lemon juice, with sesame seeds, cumin seeds, dry ginger powder, cardamom and a little essence added for flavour.

This mixture is then stuffed into cones made from the halved mandaka.

The result is a delicate snack with a very thin outer layer and a soft filling.

For generations of customers, churuttu has been closely associated with the name Mammi Chedathy’s.

From Kottayam to Malayali suitcases abroad
The shop’s customers now extend well beyond Puthanangadi. Malayalis living abroad form an important customer group, with many people visiting Kerala stocking up on the snacks before returning to the Gulf and other destinations.

Traders from different parts of Kerala also travel to Kottayam to buy the snacks for resale.

Soman, a trader who has been buying snacks from the shop for about a decade, supplies them along with tea at government offices.

“I have been getting snacks from here for the last ten years. I sell these snacks at government offices like the SP’s office, collectorate and RTO office. I give them snacks only from here along with tea,” he says.

He says customers travelling abroad, particularly to Gulf countries, make it a point to buy the snacks from the shop.

“The quality of these products is great and they do not spoil easily. People travelling abroad to the Gulf countries make sure to get snacks from here. These snacks remain fresh for up to 10–15 days,” he says.

Despite having been in business for more than seven decades, Mammi Chedathy’s continues to operate from a single outlet.

What began as one homemaker’s way of earning an income has grown into a family business involving generations of women. The recipes have stayed within the family, while the range of snacks has expanded with changing customer demand.

From the original churuttu and mandaka to the many snacks now made in its kitchen, Mammi Chedathy’s remains closely tied to the traditional snack-making culture of Kottayam and Central Travancore.